Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos for May 24th, 25th and 26th

[Kewz1]

Well done, Scott! Congratulations on the PR.
Yeah, Cam!!! Once again you have encouraged me.

Kristen

 

[getnthinr]

Hooray for Scott and Cam!!!!! Thanks for motivating me!

 

[crzy4pooh]

Scott - Awesome job on the PR!!! Congrats!!!

Cam - You did an amazing job! I teared up reading your report - I'm so excited and proud for you!!!


Good luck to all of our WISHers racing in the morning!


--Lynnda

 

[AmyBeth68]

GOOD LUCK TO THOSE RACING TOMORROW!!!!!

Scott: Congrats...I knew you could do it!!! BEST OF LUCK tomorrow in your 10K!!!

Cam: So proud of you! Excellent job...

 

[BamaEd1]

Great job on the PR, Scott!

 

[Amps]

Congrats to everyone!

I just finished my first half-marathon in Ottawa Sunday morning. I was gonna write a little report here but I found that I couldn't stop typing so decided to post a thread here:

My half-marathon. Ottawa Race Report

 

[keenercam]

Thank you so much, everyone! I am convinced now that I should have pushed harder. I wasn't nearly sore enough yesterday. Today, however, is a different story. 35 minutes of pilates gave me aches and pains in places I didn't know had muscles.
Off to read Amps' half-marathon report. Back later ....

ETA: Amps, I just read your race report and posted there. Awesome job! Congratulations! : Can't wait to meet you someday at the beginning of a Disney endurance race. Great job on the weight loss, too!

 

[dsnyfan21]

Hello fellow Wishers...

My report on my local 5K in Weston FL. Luckily it is just a 20min drive over to Weston from where I live. Race started at 7am (Yes, that's early but in FL that is the way we do it). Mostly runners in this race. I think I saw a few racewalkers and some fitness walkers. A group start with a gun, we did have chips but no mat at the start. I hung out near the back at the start. As we rounded the first corner at about .20 of the first mile who do I see??? Not sure if you all remember my report from March this year from the Run Like A Bunny 5K judged racewalk in Pompano Beach? I was talking about how I thought if I pushed it the last have of the 5K I could catch up to this older (she's 82) lady who was currently in second place if I pushed myself very hard, but I decided to hang with a male racewalker from Canada. There she was!!! Up ahead of me. So my plan now changed, instead of keeping my eye on my Garmi to keep a good pace, I just kept my eye on her. At the half way mark I caught up to her and kept her in front of me so I could pace off her. Garmi said about a 13:40 pace, I thought that was pretty good. (especially since I did 5 miles yesterday) Then with about .30 left in the race I went past her and went as fast as I could without killing myself. I finished with a good time and could be considered a PR for a local 5K - non judged racewalk. I do have to say that I might have done a bit better, at the last .12 or so and ambulance turned behind me at a corner and the race lane moved to the left side of the road after I made a right. So I was crossing over to the left and the ambulance decides to go to the left and was now ON the race course. I had no idea where to go, I was throwing my arms up in the air and finally before I had to make a left turn I ran in front of the ambulance to say on course and the ambulance moved over to the right. So, I survived that.
I then waited for the lady to cross the finish and congratulated her.

So all in all it was a nice local 5K. Organized well, had two water stations with pletty of water. The finishers got a free breakfast. The Fire department had a sprinkle hose hanging off a ladder to cool you off as you exited the finish shoot. Nice weather today around 76-77 degrees with alittle humidity and a very nice and consistantly cool breeze.

Have a good day everyone.

 

[TnTsParty]

Congrats to everyone on their races today.

I managed to get through my race today. The race started at 7:15AM so I woke up at 5:30AM. Well I didn't feel too hot when I woke up - I had the runs before my run!! (sorry if TMI) By time we left the house I was feeling a little better. The race was actually across a main road from the area where I work so it was only 7 miles (20 min drive) away from home. Luckly I have my DH who comes to ALL my races and is my biggest support - I think sometimes having him at the finish line helps me get through the race. Prior to the race starting there was a presentation by the ROTC from the local HS and the National Anthem was sung then we were off. Despite having to walk to get over the start line (thought I was at a Disney race and there was only 400 participants!! LOL) I managed to run the whole first mile in 11:10 according to the time they called out at the first mile mark. Luckly the area where we were running has lots of trees so it was pretty shady but it was quite humid. I started feeling a pain in the front of my hip (I had felt it when doing my run on the TM on Tuesday as well but haven't figured out what it is yet) and I also had tightness in my lower legs (ankles/achilles tendon area) so I had to stop and walk alot and then I would go back to running and then back to walking. When I got almost to the 3 mile mark I decided I would be happy with a 36 minute finish considering I didn't feel well to start out the morning and my legs not feeling so hot. Normally when I get to the last mile mark I put it in high gear and book it to the finish line but I just didn't have it in me today. I managed to shift into high gear right before the finish line and ended up beating 2 people into the finish. My official time was 36:24 11:45 MPM. So at least I finished in a time that I was ok with and I don't feel sore so I guess it was good. My DH got a pic of me at the finish line but I don't have it uploaded yet. I will post it (if I remember) later.

I have another 5k planned for the end of next month (its the same race I did last year as my first official 5k so it is kind of a special to me) Hopefully I will feel better for that race - both stomach wise and leg wise.

Again congrats to those who had races this weekend and Happy Memorial Day to all and God bless the soldiers and veterans for what they do for our country!!

 

[WDWFAN9]

First off, a great big congrats to my fellow WISHers!

Pre-race: Madison is a little less than 3 hrs from home and Jim and I left town Saturday about noon after dropping our precious pups with DS and DDIL. Wow! They had a busy house! They have 2 chihuahuas and were dogsitting for DDIL's sister's 2 pugs and enormous Great Dane. God bless them! Fortunately Rachel's sister was already on her way to pick up her three dogs when we dropped our two off!

The ride to Madison was uneventful (just the way I like) and we checked into our hotel and then headed to the expo. Parking was a madhouse because there were several events going on! They had to let cars out of the parking lot before they could let anymore in! The race expo however, was not crowded and on the small size, so we quickly got our race packets, took a brief walk around the exhibits and boogied outta there. As planned we met Jen and her lovely family in the hotel lobby and walked across the parking lot to a quaint restaurant in a restored stable. It had lots of exposed beams and stonework and the food was good too. It was great to sit and chat with Jen, her DH, and their two adorable daughters. They also have a golden retriever like we do, so we traded golden stories and in general had a great time!

Soon it was time to head to our room to get organized for the morning, and hopefully get a good night's sleep. I don't know why, but I never sleep well the night before an event. This time wasn't as bad as some, but I was awake when the alarm went off and it was time to get ready. We met Jen in the lobby and rode to the expo to park and catch the shuttle to the start of the race.

Here's a picture of Jen and I before the race:

Here's a better view of the capitol building:

The full marathon started 15 minutes before the half, and people just lined up according to the pacing groups. One woman was doing her 50th marathon in her 50th state - her bib number was 5050 and she got a nice welcome from the announcers prerace. That was pretty cool. Once the full was off it was time for us to line up, we chatted with a couple of nice ladies who had commented on our shirts and then - we were off. The course pretty much immediately headed downhill. That combined with a faster than we are used to start led to some shin soreness for me, and some pretty good (I mean bad) cramps for Jim. Fortunately that resolved itself for both of us a couple of miles in. The course went through some interesting neighborhoods with older homes, and part of it was a trail along the shoreline:

We also went through part of the UW campus. There wasn't any course entertainment along the way that I can remember, but in one area the residence had a table set up with beers and bloody marys! Did I mention the course was a lot hillier than I expected? Ouch! I especially had trouble with the downhills causing my feet to slide in my shoes, and the friction was very uncomfortable! Double ouch!! The weather was nicer than predicted - overcast but no thunderstorms....at one point though it looked like it might rain, and the wind really picked up, so I felt both overheated and chilled at the same time! Fortunately the bad weather stayed away and Jim and I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Oops! Almost forgot to mention that the full and half course merged and separated several times. So groups of runners would sometimes pass us.

Here's a picture along the shoreline:

We finished in 3:25, not our best, but not our worst time. There were 2866 half finishers and while we were not DLF it was close. The after race food was great - ham sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit, and yogurt. Then we headed to the World's Largest Bratsfest for more food!

Here we are with Jen at the fest, proudly wearing our medals:

 

[Jen117]

This is LONG... grab something to drink and sit back. I hope to have pictures later.

Here is my report of the Madison ½ Marathon in Madison, WI (Go Badgers!). There was also a Full and ¼ marathon. I was lucky and had a couple of WISHers to share the run with, Pat (WDWFAN9) and her DH Jim (JIMS2COOL).

We drove down Saturday morning and immediately went to the Expo, we got there about 12:30 ish. I have been to other events at the Expo center, so it was a piece of cake getting there. The Expo was small, but I really needed to get some more body glide and gel. I think I left my body glide in my hotel room at the Minnie because I tore my house up and there was no sign of it. So I picked up my packet, chip and shirt and then browsed the expo. Not much that caught my interest so we were off the find the hotel. We get to the hotel and the girls see the pool, they had a kiddie water area… so for the next 30 minutes all I heard was “Can we go swim, can we go swim…” non stop. So we went swimming. We met Pat and Jim at 5:00 and after the recommendation of the hotel walked next door to a restaurant in an old refurbished barn. We chit chatted for a bit, then back to the hotel to hang out and rest.

Sunday morning I woke up at 5:00 and got ready for the race. Pat and Jim were so nice and offered to drive me to the Expo center where we needed to board buses. DH Paul appreciated that also because he didn’t have to get the girls up so early. We get to the Expo, park close to the Brat Fest entrance/Finish line and head to the buses. Of course, we got the bus where the driver has no clue where she was going, looped up around the Expo center/Fairgrounds, screamed at nothing for a bit, then saw the other buses leaving and followed them. The buses took up downtown to the state capital where the start was. The weather was PERFECT in my opinion, around 50 degrees, cool, but great for running. We hung out for bit, chatted, used the porta potty… all those great race morning things. The wheelchairs started at 7:00, Marathon at 7:10, ½ marathon at 7:25, ¼ marathon at 7:45. We lined up and were off… I wished Pat and Jim good luck as they were walking.

First off, I asked a Madison lady how hilly the course was, because Madison is hilly. Her response was that the course was pretty flat, just a couple of hills. OK, well central WI is NOT hilly, I don’t train on any hills except for a teeny incline that I run periodically. THIS WAS HILLY!! A couple blocks into the race we are suddenly running down a hill, I was OK with is as I like downhills and this made my first mile pretty speedy. I used 2R/1W and 3R/1W intervals for this race because I was suffering a sinus infection and bad allergies. This was working MARVELOUS for me. My pace was great, I was having fun, the hills weren’t killing me. I also ran down all hills and walked up the majority of them. I ran up a couple. The scenery was awesome, the crowd support was awesome. There were plenty of water stops I remember 1 Gel stop, maybe two, I can’t remember if there was a second.

Around mile 4-5 as I was going uphill for the millionth time, I heard a siren behind me… low and behold here comes the first place marathoner with an escort. He blew by me like I was standing still. A couple seconds later 2 more flew by me, another 30 or so seconds, a pack flew by me. Very inspiring and I cheered them on. At the 15K point I was at the same pace as the Minnie… YAH Jen. I was really worried about doing well at this race. Then it fell apart a little. The scenery… still beautiful. We went through so many gorgeous old neighborhoods, along the lakefront a lot, on a trail, through the UW Madison Campus, in front of the zoo… I just really enjoyed this HILLY (gotta throw that in) course. But around mile 12 ish I could breathe anymore. Madison was very dry. Around mile 5-6 the winds really picked up and the clouds moved in. There was so much dust and junk in the air that my eyes were itchy burny. I knew this wouldn’t be good. So around mile 12 when I was almost to the finish I started having an asthma attack. I have never ever had an attack while I was running. I slowed and walked a couple minutes. Then switched to R1/W1… I brought her home, but was really scared. I saw DH and the girls near the finish and I had tears in my eyes because I wanted to finish with a PR so badly. By this point I was sucking air and couldn’t even smile (Ughhh, I wonder what those pics will look like). I swear there were people around me when I was running it in, but when I finished I don’t remember anyone. And all these wonderful people were cheering for me. I finished, grabbed a water and took a drink, grabbed my medal, had the kid pull my chip off, and I dropped everything to grab my inhaler. Thankfully I always do my long runs with it.

So I am off to find some food. WHAT, there is a line of 50-60 people waiting single file to get food. It was a single file line (like a buffet) and the line was not moving at all. I think there were line jumpers. The food looked good, they had bagels with meat on them, pasta salad, fruit, granola or some kind of energy bar… but the line wasn’t moving. So I waited 5 minutes in the same place, and just couldn’t do it anymore. I needed to move around. So I called DH on my cell, and BLESS HIS HEART because he does love me. He packed a cooler with a whole bunch of goodies for me. I met up with him and walked to the car. He pulled out a bagel, fruit yogurt, gatoraid, all sorts of stuff. He and the girls raided the hotel breakfast and got me stuff. It’s like he knew I would need them. And the girls were so proud the have helped. So I changed my shoes, grabbed my fleece jacket and we headed over the Brat Fest (worlds largest apparently) before the rain hit. Well Brat Fest was a little disappointing. The girls rode 2 over priced carny rides and we all got a brat. Oh and we showed the girls the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile (OM is in Madison). Then back to the hotel to…. You guessed it, SWIM! I swam a little, then took a little short nap.

This morning we got up, had hotel breakfast…. SWAM AGAIN… and then headed out of town. We originally wanted to go to the Henry Vilas Zoo after the race, but it turned so windy and cold and rain looked like it was coming. So Monday morning we headed downtown to show the girls the Capital Building (which is beautiful if you have never seen it, designed after the Nations Capital). But before that we took a quick detour of the zoo. It is such a lovely little zoo, and is free (tho we threw money in a couple of donation pots to keep it free). Now we are home and I feel great. I have a blister on my toe, my legs are a little fatigued, but over all I feel AWESOME. If it weren’t for my asthma attack, I think I would have PR-ed by 10 minutes, but instead it was by 3+ minutes. A PR is a PR and I am happy with that!

 

[Jen117]

OK... the weirdest thing is that Pat and I were posting at the same time. Thanks for the pics Pat, now I don't have to post them.

 

[dsnyfan21]

Cam: Congrats on a new PR!!

Amps: Nice report and congratulations to you!!

Tricia: SOunds like a rough race day morning, glad everything came out ok. (I just had to put that in there) I love it when you find that extra bit of speed at the end of a race - good for you.

Pat: COngratulations to you and DH. No entertainment?? - what's with that especially no guy with his rubber blow up guitar??

Jen: SOrry to hear you had Asthma issues during you race. You PR's anyway - Cool!!

 

[WDWFAN9]

Pat: COngratulations to you and DH. No entertainment?? - what's with that especially no guys with his rubber bloe up guitar??

Well, there were these two guys, but I don't think they were "official" entertainment

The guy in red had a bell and the other guy had bongos...sounded a little bit like going into Adventureland in WDW!

 

[Jen117]

Pat, those guys were HYSTERICAL! They were interacting with the runners. There were several places where they had music blaring, out of cars and houses, but no live entertainment. Tho honestly, many of the Madison students and residents are entertainment in themselves!!!!

Oh yah as Pat mentioned, around mile 4 there was a HUGE group of people handing out beer and mixed drinks. They were an interesting group! In case you don't know, UW Madison has won the award of top drinking school for many years. This is really not something to be proud of, but it's true!

One thing I loved about the course is that it reminded me of things I did in my youth or things I love about Madison now. I passed by an ecletic quilt store that I have always wanted to visit, passed by campus buildings I have been in for various reasons, passed by the beach on the lake that I swam in... I really enjoyed that. I really would do this race again, despite the hills.

 

[TnTsParty]

Pat and Jen - thanks for the race report for the Madison 1/2. Sounds like you both had a great time. The pics look great. It looked really nice on the trail along the shoreline. And congrats on the PR Jen - a PR is a PR no matter how much it is. Sorry to hear about the asthma attack - that could not have been fun. Good thing it wasn't any worse and you had your inhaler with you.

Tracy - congrats to you on your race and on your PR - don't you hate it when there are vehicles driving on the race course??? That happened to me today - the guy next to me said "I never had a pace truck before!!" Oh and I have to say congrats to Kasey Kahne for winning the race yesterday - I was happy to see him win again this week!!

Cam - congrats to you on your race and PR

Amps - Congrats on the Ottawa 1/2 - awesome time

Scott - Congrats on your PR on Saturday and congrats on the 3rd place

 

[Kewz1]

Good morning!

Despite all my anxiety I did actually manage to compete in and finish the above-mentioned 5K yesterday morning! I have only run 2 5Ks before and had a terrible experience with both so I was not greatly looking forward to this one.

The weather was beautiful and the crowd very upbeat. I went out early with my DH (Kevin -- kzmarathon) and enjoyed some people watching before my race. One of the best parts of yesterday was meeting another WISHer! Thanks Sandi (aldisneyfan)! It was great to meet you.

My plan for this race was run 5/walk 2 keeping a 13 min pace. First 5 minutes went great but as my walking segement began I felt like someone hit my shins with 2x4s. It was like my shin splint debacle of the CR 2002 all over again. Ugh. I seriously thought about quitting but pride got in the way and I stumbled on. I was able to keeping my walking pace up and was still passing people that way. By mile 2 things were much better and my running segments were becoming longer.

My sweet DH ran with me the very last segment to the finish line and I REALLY appreciated his support. For some odd reason I feel more beat up during 5Ks than I do half marathons. Someone please explain that to me! I came in just over my time but was pretty happy overall. We took some pics but you'll have to wait until Kev can post them later!

Kristen

 

[ScoJo15]

Memorial Day weekend Race #2: Celebrate America 10k

Short and sweet...

The Celebrate America was the first 10k that I ever ran back in '06, in what was a tune up for the Peachtree Road Race 10k. I remember the race as being pretty tough, two loops of a 5k course with no crowd support and I was fighting off an injury during the race (I think that's what happened)...I know that my finish time that year was 66:05 and I was happy that it was over. I basically swore off ever racing that event again.

So after a year off, there I was again lined up this morning for the same 10k on the same course with the same lack of crowd support. Heck, the volunteers at the first water stop weren't even handing out water, they were just standing there watching runners take the cups off of the table (except for the one poor dude who was picking up empty cups by HAND and throwing them into a garbage bag).

Anyway, I'm not really sure why I entered the race...I think it was more so that it was simply something to do on Memorial Day. But I actually felt really good all morning, breezed through some warm up jogs, and noticed no pain or cramps or tightness. The weather was warm, not hot, and amazingly not as humid as it was for Saturday's 5k. So I strapped on the headphones, channeled some built up aggression and quickly made my way down the course (after the race director got the police officer to move his abandoned motorcycle that was sitting in the middle of the road ahead of us to "keep a lane open for cars").

I believe the first mile of any race or long run is paramount, and when I clocked in mile number one at 7:06, I knew this was gonna be a good one.....mile 2 was 7:21...mile 3 in 7:46 at which point the thought did cross my mind to just merge to the right instead of the left and cross that 5k finish line (both events were going on simultaneously) because I had just done 3 miles in 22:14 virtually guaranteeing a sub 23 5k, besting Saturday's PR by at least 30 seconds. But I grabbed some water and slowed the pace ever so slightly, knowing that if I didn't fizzle during those last three miles, I had a 10k PR in the books.

The last three were all over 8 minute miles, but I cruised through the finish line gates in a new record time of 48:41...besting my performance two years ago by over 17 minutes, and eclipsing my previous best by just over a minute.

I celebrated by grabbing not one, but two cookies from the food spread (which by the way rank in my top 10 cookies of all time...they were this buttery macadamia nut soft chewy creation...cookies should be staples at all finish lines) partially because they looked good, and partially to rebel at the fact that they had halved their bananas. Why do they do this? To cut down on the number of bananas they actually need to feed the runners? At $25 bucks an entry, they surely could get someone to donate a WHOLE 50 cent banana for each runner.

I then treated myself to a day of shopping for Vegas clothes after getting changed out of my sweaty running stuff and into some normal looking swag (including the race shirt - which always seem to be cotton down here - which actually looked nice this time too)...the movie theater was gracious enough to open their doors for the runners to use the restrooms in there so that we didn't have to use port-o-potties...and it made for a nice changing station

All in all, I am glad I did the race and super glad that I PR'd it. I think now I can kick it back a notch and enjoy the Peachtree to the fullest...not try to attack that course, but try to enjoy the tons of crowd support along Peachtree Street come July 4th.

Have a good day!

 

[keenercam]

Pat & Jen -- Thanks for the race report. Wow! THat course is entertaining without any real entertainment! Jen, I am so glad that Paul and the girls took care of you, not just because you were taken care of, but also because they recognize what an effort a race is and they wanted to be sure you had what you needed afterwards. Awesome!!

Kristen -- I am so proud of you! Shin splints really stink and it would be so easy to throw in the towel when they hit. Kudos to you for sticking it out and finishing so well. And HUGE hugs to my hero, Kevin for supporting you and running it in with you (though I'd have to wonder if he wasn't such a distraction -- eye candy can be that way, you know! -- that HE is the reason you came in just over your time. J/K). You guys are awesome! Love ya!

Oh, my goodness, Scott! I am so outrageously impressed that you pulled off a second PR in one long weekend! And I just LOVE that you celebrated by shopping. Just one more reason to like you! Seriously, though, congratulations. That time is awesome!

 

[aldisneygrl]

Kristen - You looked great coming in to the finish. It was so much fun meeting you and your DH (Kevin). Hope to see you at more local races. Although, after the way I feel today, I don't know that I ever want to run again. My quads are killing me.


Well folks, as Kewz1 said we all did the Cotton Row yesterday. It was my first 10K ever. I started training for it shortly after the 5K down in Disney. I had a great time! It was a lot of fun! I just got really nervous at the beginning because the announcer kept reading the disclaimer (remember this sport could bring injury or even death if you haven't trained well....etc.) I know he has to read all that, but it makes you want to quit right then and there. Anyway, I was running with my friend from work, so we were set. We started off great. Although we did run into each other a couple of times. Once was when I was thanking a police officer for being there for us. I smacked right into the side of her. I told her I obviously can't run and thank at the same time. We were keeping a great pace until Mile 2, that's where the course starts going uphill. We had to walk more than we had to during our training. I don't know if it was the heat or what, but it seemed much harder. Well then you hit "the hill" right before Mile 3. Before you get to the hill, we could here the theme to "Rocky" playing loudly. That gave us the boost we needed. She told me she was going to walk the hill. I told her I was going to run until I had to walk. Well, I didn't make it to the 3 Mile mark, but almost. Then I slowly walked up the rest of the hill. Ok, it's all mostly downhill from here. As I started the downhill portion, I got in the middle of the road, and ran to each little deflector in the road. It was a great motivator for me since I didn't bring my Ipod with me. I may have run too much because the last mile and a half seemed brutal to me. I just didn't have any juice left in the engines. Although I did enjoy seeing all the people and their dogs out cheering us along. That was alot of fun. I tried to thank as many of them as I could. I am a dog lover, so that was fun to see all the dogs on the course. Usually in my training runs, I would take off for the last bit of the course, but when I pushed the Turbo button, there was nuthin. I charged on as best I could, and finished in 1:19:25. One second slower than my friend. I am really proud that I was able to do it! Never thought in a million years I would ever be able to do something like that.

Then I enjoyed cheering all the 5K runners including Kristen. I didn't see her at the START, but did at the finish, and I cheered for her and her DH Kevin. Then I stuck around for the 1 Mile fun run because there were several of my preschoolers running with their parents. So I cheered some more. Two minutes after the fun run started they had a Fallen Officers memorial walk. It was a nice tribute to local fallen officers at the end. We had an officer killed back in Dec. and it was a very nice way to remember him and the others.

All in all it was a great day.